My parents are coming into town in July, for the first time in about eight years. And while my annual trips home for Thanksgiving sometimes verge on painful, I usually enjoy having the folks out on my turf. Maybe it's because the home they now live in isn't the same one in which I grew up, so going "home" isn't really going home for me, while having them in Seattle lets me play host and be all grown up (which, at 34, you'd think would be a non-issue, but I guess it's hard to shake the memories of being at the kids' table).
They did a lot of the usual Seattle stuff the last time they came-- Pike Place Market, Woodland Park Zoo, Capitol Hill and the Ave., Wild Ginger, the Spirit of Washington dinner train. The Experience Music Project is new, but even less appealing to them than Swan Lake to an eighth grade boy. I'd like to treat them to something nice, and different.
And so I find myself thinking about The Herbfarm. I'm a foodie, and other foodies rave about the place. I've never been-- it's a special occasion kind of place, and I don't have many special occasions. But for the money, I could fly all three of us to Vegas and see Cirque du Soleil's O at Bellagio with money left over for cab fare. At the end of the day-- and at 5 hours for dinner, that's a long day-- it's just food. You'd almost have to have nine courses of that chocolate cake from The Matrix Reloaded, hand-fed by Famke Janssen to feel justified in signing the check. At what point is food no longer food, but an experience? And is such a thing even possible in Woodinville?
Posted by Peter at May 22, 2003 3:35 PMI couldn't find a price in a quick skim through the site (hey, if you have to ask...), but I can guess.
I also consider myself a foodie, and my take on expensive dining is, if it's expensive enough that
you will end up not being satisfied unless it's perfect, don't do it (obviously if you won't be
satisfied even if it IS perfect you dhouldn't do it, but you knew that). Because it won't
be perfect, and then you'll have spent a small fortune to be disappointed. I've yet to eat in any
restaurant, no matter how fancy/expensive/starred, where there wasn't something less
than perfect (last fancy place, the foie gras was not up to par, which is the snobbiest thing I've
said this year, I think).
Of course, if you think your parents will be absolutely thrilled to go this place, that's a different story.
Posted by: Dan Blum on May 22, 2003 9:27 PMMeals at the Herbfarm are $160-$190 a person (tax & tip not included). I think you'd have had to have won Who Wants to Be a Millionaire to eat there.
Enjoy the meal.
Posted by: Greg Aleknevicus on May 23, 2003 1:28 AMAh, but haven't you seen O?
Besides, nine courses plus 5-6 different wines for, say, $175 per person is definitely expensive... but is it crazy expensive? I mean, the desert wine on the sample menu is from the 1870's, fer Chrissakes. Yes, it's a wine you might never order (or even like), but it's probably not cheap, regardless of which restaurant you order it in (assuming you even can), meaning you may not be too far off, value-wise, for what you're getting for your money.
But that's moot, because the real question is: are your parents foodies, too? There's no point in you going for this experience if you're not going with the "right" company.
Wait... your parents are coming out in July... Your Millionaire airs in... July, was it? Or was it June. Hmmm....
p.s. Very disappointed with your lack of response to our Puzzle Hunt posts, by the way.